He said, We had come out from Ireland just the year before, and there was a large family of us, all young children, and all my father had been able to do was to clear the little piece of land and put in turnips, and we lived on turnips all winter.

They have a new root crop at Sellanraa called turnips, sending up a colossal growth of green waving leaves out of the earth, and nothing can keep the cows away from them — the beasts break down all hedgework, and storm in, bellowing.